Journey to the Amazon (1996)

In May of 1817, all of Vienna was abuzz over the marriage of Leopoldine, doughter of the Austrian Kaiser Franz I. to the crown prince of Portugal, the future emperor of Brazil.

Leopoldine had to embark on a long, difficult sea voyage to far-off Brazil lasting several weeks. Accompanying her on board were the zoologist John Babtiste Spix and the botanist Carl Phillipp Martius. For the two scientists, it was the start of a three-year voyage of discovery.

They found a country rich in flora, fauna, and mineral recources, inhabited by a proud and independent people who would shortly thereafter summon the courage to throw off the Portuguese colonial yoke. But they also found an indigenous population that had been decimated and herded into camp-like reserves. They saw the mass importation of slaves from Africa and the uninhibited exploitation of natural resources.

Spix and Martius´ aments over the destruction of the Amazon rain forest and natural environment and their description of the colonists´ treatment of the native peoples bear an amazing resemblance to what we see and hear today.

This report follows tha path of the two researchers through the Rio, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco, Amazon, and Pará regions of Brazil.